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City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney has been asked to resign by Mayor Edna Jackson.

Jackson asked for the resignation on Tuesday. She informed her fellow Savannah City Council members today.

The group will convene for another meeting at 10 a.m. Oct. 4 to take further action. One hour will be allowed for public comments, with this comments limited to three minutes per person.

Council members met in a specially called work session this afternoon to discuss numerous performance issues, including problems with Purchasing Department operations.

Because this afternoon’s session was advertised as a work session, not a meeting, council chose to exercise an abundance of caution and not take any formal vote that might violate state Open Meetings law. A special meeting will be scheduled and duly noticed for the vote, which would be to either accept her resignation or terminate.

Council members during a financial workshop earlier this week had asked for a special meeting to discuss personnel issues in Purchasing, but as more issues surfaced during the workshop, council anticipated discussing the city manager’s role, too.

One issue of concern was the city manager’s suggestion that council use special purpose local option sales tax monies set aside for an arena to renovate the Civic Center. Some council members, however, are questioning whether the city’s budget position for 2013 is more severe than they have been told.

Small-Toney, aware of the concerns about Purchasing, earlier today reassigned Purchasing Director Carla Byrd to an administrator position over the Entrepreneurial Center. Joy Kerkhoff, the assistant purchasing director who had been moved out of the office, has been asked to return and run Purchasing as the assistant director.

For more on this story, pick up Thursday’s Savannah Morning News and come back to savannahnow.com.

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[i]"In my opinion the city manager has crossed the line and she should be held to the same standards that she has had for others.

In my opinion it's time to look for a new city manager since it is obvious that the present one can not be trusted and I doubt she can regain that trust.

Keeping her would show that there are different standards being used and if she stays this will reflect as badly for the mayor, and others that don't call for her resignation, as it does for the city manager.[/i]

It may have taken a month to get around to it but she should have never been hired in the first place.

Since Carla took over...for reasons unknown....since Joy was doing a great job.....the entire department has been a joke. I am glad to see Joy getting her position back...This is a PRIME example of why RST should have NEVER been put in the position of CM.

"Keeping her would show that there are different standards being used"...

The different standards were being used, when Otis hired her. I have a theory, but I'll wait it out, until after she has vacated the position permanently.

On another note I was watching the council meeting from last week.
They had a study done on hiring minorities. The presentation represented the year 2008. The results from 2008 showed a low hire rate. They debated whether or not if they had to make an announcement for a new bid for that study to be updated, or if they could continue using the same company.They didn't have a clue. Rochelle wanted to use that data instead of a current new study, She wanted to implement a plan based on the 2008 findings. It was really interesting.

If good old Otis decides its time to open his yap....then he can be assured never to hold a public position in this city too.....The pure fact is....IF RST was doing her job.....then this whole thing would be racist....however...she has done everything BUT her job and what she did do was race based.....so WHO is playing the racist here....she has used purchasing to benefit friends and contacts....forcing bids to use particular people based on their color and disregarding the fact that their "list" was minimal at best....thus negating the bidding process entirely....THIS is a crime....she has crossed many lines....the MWBE which Carla also was head of....was set up to allow fair bidding across the board...she has managed to use it to benefit her friends and personal contacts.....THIS IS ILLEGAL IN EVERY POSSIBLY WAY.

Savannah has had enough of your egomanical, selfish, management. Your leadership stinks! You are not from here and the good folks of Savannah want a divorce from you because you don't have our interests at heart!

Save the rest of your reputation and LEAVE NOW! ( I don't think you're bright enough to go on your own. What a MAROON!)

I need an factual answer to this question. Could someone please tell me what has the current city manager done to deserve being asked to resign? I am not asking for opinions. I am asking for facts on what she has or has not done to deserve firing?

We just have to make sure the city doesn't pay her to leave quietly. If they provide her a severance for how she's run this city into the ground, I have a major problem with that. Give her the boot, and call it a day. No dilly dallying around this time.

Facts:
- She misused the reimbursement policy that is funded by tax dollars.
- She mistreated the entire purchasing department and demoted certain individuals that were doing their job....to place someone she desired in that position.
- She actually asked council to approve her submitting hand written notes for reimbursement.
- She has mishandled almost every department she has touched...and used race to guide her decisions. We are beyond this type of behavior.
- She has used her position to benefit her friends and contacts over other qualified companies.

I am sure I am skipping over many other items....but the list is never ending.

I watched the workshop online after they came out of executive session. The mayor opened the work session to public comments today after announcing the request for resignation. Five or six people spoke, and all were very vocal in their support for RST. Watch the video if you have the chance.

Most of the speakers blamed the SMN for RST's problems being blown out of proportion, and for not giving previous CMs the same amount of scrutiny. Two mentioned the SMN blogs and comments as being excessively critical. Several played the race card.

This next week should be interesting.

I do have one question: does the mayor have the authority to ask for her resignation without first getting approval from a majority of the council members??

savannaharch facts please! What type of mistreatment? How do you know that she is using race to guide her decision? How do you know that the individuals were doing their job and didn't deserve demotion? What departments has she mishandle specifically? I agree with you about the travel reimbursements. As an trained accountant, documentation and accountability is very important, but did she misappropriate funds? Looking for facts!

She has re-classified jobs to include a 50+% pay raise to some of her friends, even when the jobs are no different than the previous assignments. She has squandered away city money on trivial things, such as these trips of hers for the NFPBA, and did not pay them back until she was called out by Leslie Conn of SMN. If you read the articles from Conn, you'll see exactly, factually, what she's done.

I have read several articles from Ms. Conn as well as most of the comments. I also have done some reading on the past city manager Michael Brown and he was known for generous pay raise also. I am also sure at other city employees are apart of professional organizations and the city has paid for their "trivial" trips. The past city manager Michael Brown was a member of the ICMA, Georgia City and County Management Association and the GA Municipal Association and I am sure that our taxpayer dollars paid for trips, dues and conferences for him. So what makes our city manager Rochelle Small-Toney so different. Why are these "issues" for lack of a better word so severe that the call for her resignation is heralded around the city?

@Ellsworth I have done some reading about the bond issue and a respectfully inform you at you are misinformed. The City Charter stipulates the cit manager be covered by a $50,000 Public Officials Surety Bond, which she was able to obtain. Michael Brown during his tenure increased his personal bond to $1 million at some point without an action by Council. The City Charter clearly requires only a $50,000 bond. After learning that Brown was covered by a $1 million bond, the Council initiated a plan to adopt an ordinance requiring a $1 million bond for the City Manager. However, it was subsequently learned from the City’s insurance broker, the Georgia Municipal Association and the National League of Cities that if the proposed new ordinance were approved, Savannah would possibly be the only city in the nation to require a $1 million personal bond for its manager. It was also learned that such a high personal insurance coverage was probably not needed since the Savannah City Manager is covered by the other fidelity insurance purchased by the City. I deal in facts. What made our city manager Rochelle Small - Toney unqualify for the position? What did she do that deserved a call for resignation? Still need an answer????????

@Candyshack, please no small minded insults. I am new to Savannah and find the dynamics of this city politics very interesting. @Westicle, what makes the NFBPA racist? The very definition of racist is a person or organization who believes in racism , the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others. How does the NFBPA fits into that definition?

I will not name the people that were mistreated...you can find that on your own...however...these people were doing their job and had been for years...and never had a problem...RST decided to demote these people and place another in their place.....Purchasing dept...MWBE program and the list goes on and on....

let me explain more...there are many very qualified architects, engineers, and general contractors in this city....but we are made to use a list that has not been updated since MAY to get our consultants....otherwise known as engineers or trade contractors....since there are only 3-4 engineers on this sacred list of MWBE programs....the CM is basically stating that we MUST use...the ONE minority on that list....which TOTALLY dismisses any kind of competitive bid....this was ALL RST's doing. In fact...at one point a firm won a bid based on the RFP(bid). Then....RST came back and refused to sign it because 100% of the MWBE requirements were not met......this is NOT what the RFP said....it gave points based on how much of the goal you met...this could have put the COS at risk if being sued....and for what????